"Not just people, but many animals in the forest will also die," Clark said with a long sigh.
"This is very normal. Father said that life always comes to an end. I remember a poem, something, something, the core is missing."
Mark said, feeling a bit frustrated, "Well, I'm not a poetry lover."
Clark didn't notice Mark's expression. He suddenly felt a bit down. "The lives of humans and animals are truly fragile. Old Bill recently fell ill and passed away."
"Are you talking about Old Bill, the one who had a zombie dog and almost bit me?" Mark asked in surprise.
"Yes, Godfather said he got DVT."
"DVT? What's that? It sounds like a bad movie."
Clark explained to him, "D-V-T, Deep Vein Thrombosis."
Mark suddenly understood. "Oh, oh, that sounds like a cool band name."
Clark's nostrils flared slightly, and he fiddled with his black-rimmed glasses with his fingers.
Whenever Mark left him speechless, he would unconsciously make this gesture.
Noon, gymnasium.
Mark and Clark were in physical education class.
A ginger-haired girl was pretending to attack another girl's groin with her knee, striking her throat flatly, and flipping her onto a blue exercise mat.
The ground shook slightly.
Another girl, with skin as pale as porcelain and thick black hair tied in a bun, calmly stood up from the mat. Then, the two girls approached each other and bowed.
Clark and Mark sat side by side at the front, watching the two girls practice karate with the other students.
The physical education teacher standing in front of the students was tall and muscular.
He clapped his hands and said, "Alright, everyone, now repeat the six basic attack areas."
The students chanted in unison, "Eyes, nose, throat, groin, knees, and feet."
"Again, faster."
"Eyes, nose, throat, groin, knees, and feet."
"Again, louder."
"Eyes, nose, throat, groin, knees, and feet."
Mark found it a bit boring. In his opinion, this body-strengthening karate was more like self-defense for girls.
Having often watched boxing matches with Peter, he felt this training was too childish.
Sighing, he saw the whiteboard behind the teacher.
On the whiteboard, the six words and those attack areas were all listed one by one.
"I bet if Teacher Ryan sparred with Father, he'd be beaten to a pulp," Mark whispered to Clark. "I mean, even if Father didn't use much strength."
"Quiet!"
Teacher Ryan glared in Mark's direction. Clark immediately sat up straight and stopped talking to Mark.
"Next is free sparring. You can choose a partner for practice."
Clapping his hands, Teacher Ryan signaled that it was time for free sparring.
Clark stood up, ready to choose Mark as his practice partner.
Unexpectedly, Mark didn't choose him but walked directly to another student.
"Hey, do you mind if we two practice a bit?" Mark stood in front of the tall Whitney and asked him.
"Go away, I'm not interested in you." Whitney glanced at Mark, preparing to practice with his crony nearby.
"So, are you scared?" Mark looked at him disdainfully. "Or are you just a show-off? Don't you dare try something real?"
Provoked by Mark, Whitney's anger immediately flared up. "I'll beat you until you call me daddy, freak."
Seeing Mark intending to practice with Whitney, Clark, knowing what he was up to, immediately came to stop him.
"Hey, John, you can't—"
"Don't worry, Clark, I know what I'm doing."
Mark gave Clark a reassuring look.
Although Clark was worried, he knew he couldn't persuade Mark, so he could only release his hand and stand aside, full of concern.
The two stood face to face. Mark looked at the other party expressionlessly. "I'm going to beat you to a pulp."
"Oh really? Then come on!" Whitney's face moved closer to him. "They say you and Clark have superpowers. I don't believe that nonsense. Come on, do it!"
"Bang!"
Mark grabbed Whitney's clothes and slammed him to the ground with a "thud."
Whitney, who was a bit dazed from the fall, felt his head buzzing.
Fortunately, Mark didn't use much force, so he didn't directly kill him.
Even so, Whitney still felt very embarrassed.
With a bad expression, he scrambled up as quickly as possible and gritted his teeth, kicking towards Mark's groin.
Mark grabbed his arm and slammed him to the ground. As he was falling, Mark punched him hard in the lower abdomen.
Whitney, who was slammed again, felt like his whole body was falling apart, with a sharp pain in his lower abdomen.
Clutching his lower abdomen in pain, his body curled into a ball, he groaned.
Mark looked down at the other party groaning on the ground and said coldly, "You are just an incompetent, ordinary, damn idiot."
"Hey!"
The physical education teacher finally noticed the situation here.
Teacher Ryan quickly ran over and, seeing Whitney groaning on the ground, quickly bent down to check on him.
"What happened?! John!" he asked Mark angrily.
"I don't know, Teacher Ryan. I just wanted to practice with Whitney, and he just fell like that."
Mark performed a "face change" in front of Clark, immediately transforming from a frightening expression to an innocent one.
"Perhaps Whitney's physique is a bit weak, and this kind of physical education class is not suitable for him," Mark said to the physical education teacher, feigning concern.
The physical education teacher was misled by Mark's expression, thinking he didn't do it on purpose.
Without bothering to investigate further, he quickly took Whitney to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Clark was dumbfounded, having witnessed Mark's incredible "face-changing" skill, where he went from a "villain-like" expression one second to an innocent, sunny boy the next.
How did Mark do that?!
This was even more incredible than the trick Godfather taught him about changing his aura by wearing glasses!
Mark didn't know what Clark was thinking. He walked over and said, "Don't worry, Clark, this guy is fine. I controlled my strength."
Feeling a bit smug, he suddenly thought of something and whispered to Clark, "Clark, you have to keep it a secret for me. You can't tell Father."
Clark nodded subconsciously. "Okay, okay."
Afternoon, Patrick Farm.
Martian Manhunter went out to buy groceries. Peter stayed home alone, watching the news report about the wildfires on TV when the phone suddenly rang.
"This is Patrick Farm."
Peter picked up the phone and listened for a few sentences, his brows immediately furrowing.